Monday, November 14, 2011

Review: Homemade Gifts Vintage Style by Sarah Moore

THE DESCRIPTION:Shops and markets selling vintage furniture and trinkets are an absolute treasure trove for anyone looking to inject some character and charm into their hoe without spending a fortune. Homemade Gifts Vintage Style takes this one step further by inspiring you to make or customise your own vintage wares and present them as gifts. Rather than throwing out worn jumpers and blankets, give them a new lease of life by turning them into cute animals for children's birthdays. Instead of ditching cushions that have seen better days, why not transform them into something unique with colourful and eclectic vintage fabrics. Sarah Moore shows you how with step-by-step photographs accompanied by simple instructions. Projects can be sewn by hand or accomplished with one simple stitch on a sewing machine so are suitable for all abilities. With their colourful vintage look these projects make the perfect gifts for any occasion - so lovely that you'll have to resist the temptation to keep them for yourself.

THE REVIEW:

'Homemade Gifts for Vintage Style' was supposed to be promising and full of handmade gift ideas. It is defintely a great source of insporation, but doesn't really fulfill its intended purpose. What we have here is a book with pretty pictures, but little else...

One of the first things I noticed about this book was that "vintage style" homemade gifts are gifts made with second hand things rather than a gift made from new products to fit an old-fashioned style. I thought that this was a great way to recycle things, but you would definitely have to be careful who you gave the gift to and the quality of the second hand items would need to be checked thoroughly.

Many of the gift ideas were very simple. Some of them I thought fit the "Homewares" cateegory rather than "gifts". I'm a bit unsure about giving homewares as gifts because people tend to put these things in the cupboard. My favourite gift ideas were: The shirt apron, lavender bunnies, christmas decorations (thought they would make great secret santa presents) and teacup candles.

I thought that while the ideas seemed quite simple there were no little step-by-step pictures to look onto. If somone had never made a stuffed toy before they may find this to be a problem when they decide to make a lavender bunny. I think this book was more a source of inspiration because I got the idea to make christmas decorations, but to make different ones with some other items I had.

Overall I gave this book 3.5 stars. It was definitely helpful for tips on how to find 2nd hand goods and what condition they should be in. The only problem with this book was that it didn't fit the description. It didn't show you how to make the items, just a quick list of instructions next to a picture. Many of the gift ideas actually involved putting the handmade item in some sort of hamper with a heap of store bought items. The book is a great source of ideas for homewares and such.

4 comments:

Hi there. So sorry that you did not find homemade gifts vintage style quite what you were expecting. We did try to pack in as many step by step pics. I think there are five for the bunnies and we tried to make sure the instructions were straightforward to follow. I have no formal training in needlework or crafting so hoped that with a little trial and error everyone could achieve the projects in the book. Hope the decorations turn out well and would love to see them

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I have been told by many that I belong to another era, but the truth is that I like a mix of new and old things. Originally this blog was for reviewing books, but it's filled with all kind of things now. I have too many hobbies...